1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th... Ordinal Numbers

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 21st, 22nd, 33rd...

Why do we spell 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th like this?
Where do the letters come from?

In this lesson we're looking at the spelling of ordinal numbers and a few rules.

1st = first (She won first prize.)
2nd = second (I live on the 2nd floor.)
3rd = third (Take the third turning on the left.)
4th = fourth (It's his fourth birthday.)
5th = fifth (This is the 5th time I've taken my driving test.)

We need to write these ordinal numbers in words in formal writing - business, job applications, etc. But it's OK to write them in numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd...) in informal writing to friends, colleagues, social media comments, etc.

Look at these and notice the last two letters of the words
1st = first
2nd = second
3rd = third
4th = fourth
5th =fifth

Can you see the last two letters of the words make up the ordinal number?
first - last two letters are 'st' so put after 1 = 1st
second - last two letters are 'nd' put after 2 = 2nd
third - last two letters are 'rd' so put after 3 = 3rd
4th - last two letters are 'th' so put after 4 = 4th

In long numbers, 'th' is added to the last number:
106th = one hundred and sixth
242nd = two hundred and forty-secondth
2018th = two thousand and eighteenth

Let's look at some spelling rules
4th - We have four, fourteen, forty(drop the u), fourth (don't drop the 'u')
5th - We have five, but then the 'v' become 'f' in fifteen, fifty, fifth ( the 'f' helps pronunciation)
9th - We have nine, nineteen, ninety, but ninth (drop the 'e')
12th - twelve, twelfth (Notice the 'v' becomes 'f')

Let's look at numbers from 21 upwards
We need a hyphen when we write cardinal numbers from 21 upwards. Notice there's no space between the letters and hyphen:
twenty-one
twenty-two
thirty-three
sixty-seven
one hundred and twenty-nine
one thousand two hundred and thirty-one pounds

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